Tag Archive: friends

All day, while I was working, while I was driving, shopping, walking, cooking, I’ve had ideas for posts running through my mind and then, the email….

It was from my sister. She’s planning a soap-making day on Saturday, which I’m going to, and it included times and an ingredients list. I’ve made soap once before, except it wasn’t really soap-making, so much as glycerine soap melting and adding things to make pretty smelling soaps. There was no actual saponification process. Oh yes, saponification is now in my vocabulary! 🙂 Simply put, it’s the process that turns oils and caustic soda, or lye, into soap and the reason I know this, is that I’ve spent the latter part of the afternoon and most of the evening reading about it and watching Youtube tutorials on the subject. Which drove all other post-related ideas from my mind.

I like the idea of making my own soap. I enjoy the thought of doing something that feels self-sufficient and natural, of using a product without chemicals I don’t recognise. Mostly though, I love that my sister is gathering us to do it together at her house. There’s something very nurturing and connecting about it. So I get to do something new, in the company of my sister, my mother and her friend. Roll on Saturday.

Like this:

Today had all the potential to be ‘one of those days’ and yet it wasn’t. It started with a sleep-in, which was pretty lovely, then Zac and I joined Andy and Sam, at a game in which Sam was playing. He got a goal, which was great and we were really proud. Picture us beaming.

I discovered that an old friend of mine was visiting in a town 45 minutes north of us (it was on FB you know) and arranged to drive up for a visit. I left my family and started driving, rounded a bend and realised two things at the same time. One, that I was over the speed limit and two, that there was a police car on the other side of the road, whose lights were now flashing.

I pulled over, took out my driving license and waited, stomach clenched, for him to come to my window. He was quite nice about it really but still, suddenly owing hundreds of dollars to the council was a less than auspicious beginning. He went back to his car, I put my seat belt on and prepared to drive away but the battery was dead…..

So I called Andy, who came immediately, kids in tow, to jump-start the car. In twenty minutes it was done and I kissed them all, thanked them and kept going. Incidentally, my friend’s response to me texting to say I’d be late, with a harried explanation, was an “okay, breathe”, which reminded me immediately of why I like her so much, despite not having seen much of her since we were kids.

I had joked about getting lost on the way, which turned out to be prophetic. Even with my trusty talking phone giving me directions, I ended up inexplicably describing a large circle through farmland, which wasn’t where I was aiming at all. I couldn’t be too upset about it though because…well, look….

Left

Right

We did get to meet in the end though and it was good. It was an easy visit and I left feeling enriched by the conversation.

I had planned to make roast beef for dinner but by the time I got home, it was too late for that, so I decided to use the last of the cream from last night’s dessert and make a Quiche Lorraine instead. I had some nice bacon and some fresh free-range eggs, a couple of sheets of pre-made short-crust frozen pastry, an onion and some cheddar, a little garlic. Easy. I had visions of a puffy, tremblingly custardy quiche, dotted with crispy bacon pieces and some chopped spinach and parsely. It was going to be fabulous.

I pottered about the kitchen, looking up now and then at my family, engaged in various leisure activities, warm and comfortable. It was a nice evening. Then, quiche in the oven, I sat down to talk with Zac and got completely engrossed. So much that I didn’t quite realise how much time had gone by, and the gloriousness of the quiche was reduced to a flattish-looking, brown pancake-y thing.

This isn’t what it was supposed to look like at all!

Still, it tasted okay and Andy and the boys wolfed it down like starving things, so I wasn’t too upset after all. 🙂

Later, the guinea pigs got out, to Zac’s great distress and there was a huge amount of running around, trying to collect them up without scaring them to death. They were caught in the end, and put safely back in their play area, with a chopped carrot to help them feel better but by then, Zac, who has never had hayfever as far as I remember, had spots and swollen eyes and the sneezes.

So he had to be hustled to the shower, still crying, then given anti-histamine to make him comfortable again. The upside is that, as I write this, he is snuggled, sleeping, next to me and all feels right with the world after all.

Actually, I’m really tired because coincidentally, just as I finished last night’s post, I got a message from Dawn, inviting me to walk. We decided on today, after work and then walked along the coast together for almost two hours, stopping now and then when I was puffing too hard.

There are hills!! 🙂 Seriously though, a few weeks without a proper walk and I’m puffing again. Far out! Still, it was great to catch up and we talked as we walked and we laughed between ragged breaths (Mine, not hers. She was breathing with incredible ease, even when we reached the tops of hills!).

Today’s walk, hooray

Tonight’s dinner was jacket potato with mince and cheese. Simple and hearty for a coldish evening. Although you can see kidney beans in the first pic, I left them out of the dish in the end. Also, I added garlic, salt and pepper and basil.

So that’s it. Day one of this week’s challenge to post every evening’s meal, making me accountable and mindful 🙂

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Ha! I bet you thought I’d gone quiet because I’d fallen off the wagon and was feeling resistant to coming and admitting it here…

That I was embarrassed to write down that I was having yet another struggle with this stuff and I just wanted to shut down and not think about it.

Oh…actually…that’s exactly what happened.

It’s lucky I’d already shopped and filled the fridge and cupboards with good, healthy stuff. As it was, I had a sort of mixed week. I had days where I was mostly on track and days, like Saturday….which were completely off the rails.

and it wasn’t just a treat meal on Saturday….oh no….it was an all day eat fest, just one form of junk food after another. We spent the day at the movies and I took it as license to relax in the dark with crisps, strawberries, chocolate, diet coke….later there was MacDonalds…you get the picture…..

On Sunday morning I felt as though I had a hangover. Complete with headache.

Then I read an article about Scarlett Johansen, where she talks about having a kale-rich diet and my taste buds leapt. I had an immediate craving for kale. Which just tells me that my body knows what it needs.

I had a bunch of kale in the fridge (Thank you earlier me) so I quickly whizzed up a smoothie made with kale, a green apple, a few strawberries and some cold water. Dark green, sweet with a bitter edge, rehydrating….it was perfect and I felt almost immediately better.

mmmmmm

So I’ve been having a glass of smoothie and a banana for breakfast the last few days and eating sensibly the rest of the day, since that morning. Which is only three days ago but still….

Also, this week I did three good walks and a few incidental ones, two with Natalie, one with Dawn, for a total of 15+km

The upshot is that this week I am 1kg lighter. Hooray. Still going in the right direction 🙂

Would I have lost more if I’d been sensible the whole week instead of just half? Probably, it’s hard to know and at this point I’m just glad I’m still going the right way.

The planning I did last week is what made the difference I think, and the fact that I had to come back here and report 🙂

Once a week isn’t enough though, for me. I’ll be resuming normal service from here on in. Well….every other day at the very least…..